§8-22-18a. West Virginia Municipal Pensions Oversight Board
created; powers and duties; management;
composition; terms; quorum; expenses; reports.
(a) (1) There is established, on the effective date of the
enactment of this section during the fourth extraordinary session
of the Legislature in 2009, the West Virginia Municipal Pensions
Oversight Board for the purpose of monitoring and improving the
performance of municipal policemen's and firemen's pension and
relief funds to assure prudent administration, investment and
management of the funds. Management of the oversight board shall
be vested solely in the members of the oversight board. Duties of
the oversight board shall include, but not be limited to, assisting
municipal boards of trustees in performing their duties, assuring
the funds' compliance with applicable laws, providing for actuarial
studies, distributing tax revenues to the funds, initiating or
joining legal actions on behalf of active or retired pension fund
members or municipal boards of trustees to protect interests of the
members in the funds, and taking other actions as may be reasonably
necessary to provide for the security and fiscal integrity of the
pension funds. The oversight board's authority to initiate legal
action does not preempt the authority of municipalities; municipal
policemen's and firemen's boards of trustees; or pension fund
active members, beneficiaries or others to initiate legal action to
protect interests in the funds. The oversight board is created as
a public body corporate. Establishment of the oversight board does not relieve the municipal funds' boards of trustees from their
fiduciary and other duties to the funds, nor does it create any
liability for the funds on the part of the state. Members and
employees of the oversight board are not liable personally, either
jointly or severally, for debts or obligations of the municipal
pension and relief funds. Members and employees of the oversight
board have a fiduciary duty toward the municipal pension and relief
funds and are liable for malfeasance or gross negligence.
Employees of the oversight board are nonclassified state employees.

(2) The oversight board shall consist of nine members. The
executive director of the state's Investment Management Board and
the executive director of the state's Consolidated Public
Retirement Board, or their designees, shall serve as voting ex
officio members. The other seven members shall be citizens of the
state who have been qualified electors of the state for a period of
at least one year next preceding their appointment and shall be as
follows: An active or retired member of a Municipal Policemen's
Pension and Relief Fund chosen from a list of three persons
submitted to the Governor by the state's largest professional
municipal police officers organization, an active or retired member
of a Municipal Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund chosen from a list
of three persons submitted to the Governor by the state's largest
professional firefighters organization, an attorney experienced in
finance and investment matters related to pensions management, two
persons experienced in pension funds management, one person who is a certified public accountant experienced in auditing and one
person chosen from a list of three persons submitted to the
Governor by the state's largest association of municipalities.

(3) On the effective date of the enactment of this section as
amended during the fourth extraordinary session of the Legislature
in 2009, the Governor shall forthwith appoint the members, with the
advice and consent of the Senate. The Governor may remove any
member from the oversight board for neglect of duty, incompetency
or official misconduct.

(b) The oversight board has the power to:

(1) Enter into contracts, to sue and be sued, to implead and
be impleaded;

(2) Promulgate and enforce bylaws and rules for the management
and conduct of its affairs;

(3) Maintain accounts and invest those funds which the
oversight board is charged with receiving and distributing;

(4) Make, amend and repeal bylaws, rules and procedures
consistent with the provisions of this article and chapter thirty-
three of this code;

(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, retain or
employ, fix compensation, prescribe duties and pay expenses of
legal, accounting, financial, investment, management and other
staff, advisors or consultants as it considers necessary, including
the hiring of legal counsel and actuary; and

(6) Do all things necessary and appropriate to implement and operate the board in performance of its duties. Expenses shall be
paid from the moneys in the Municipal Pensions Security Fund
created in section eighteen-b of this article or, prior to the
transition provided in section eighteen-b of this article, the
Municipal Pensions and Protection Fund: Provided, That the board
may request special appropriation for special projects. The
oversight board is exempt from provisions of article three, chapter
five-a of this code for the purpose of contracting for actuarial
services, including the services of a reviewing actuary.

(c) Except for ex officio members, the terms of oversight
board members shall be staggered initially from January 1, 2010.
The Governor shall appoint initially one member for a term of one
year, one member for a term of two years, two members for terms of
three years, one member for a term of four years and two members
for terms of five years. Subsequent appointments shall be for
terms of five years. A member serving two full consecutive terms
may not be reappointed for one year after completion of his or her
second full term. Each member shall serve until that member's
successor is appointed and qualified. Any member may be removed by
the Governor in case of incompetency, neglect of duty, gross
immorality or malfeasance in office. Any vacancy on the oversight
board shall be filled by appointment by the Governor for the
balance of the unexpired term.

(d) A majority of the full authorized membership of the
oversight board constitutes a quorum. The board shall meet at least quarterly each year, but more often as duties require, at
times and places that it determines. The oversight board shall
elect a chairperson and a vice chairperson from their membership
who shall serve for terms of two years and shall select annually a
secretary/treasurer who may be either a member or employee of the
board. The oversight board shall employ an executive director and
other staff as needed and shall fix their duties and compensation.
The compensation of the executive director shall be subject to
approval of the Governor. Except for any special appropriation as
provided in subsection (b) of this section, all personnel and other
expenses of the board shall be paid from revenue collected and
allocated for municipal policemen's or municipal firemen's pension
and relief funds pursuant to section fourteen-d, article three,
chapter thirty-three of this code and distributed through the
Municipal Pensions and Protection Fund or the Municipal Pensions
Security Fund created in section eighteen-b of this article.
Expenses during the initial year of the board's operation shall be
from proceeds of the allocation for the municipal pensions and
relief funds. Expenditures in years thereafter shall be by
appropriation from the Municipal Pensions Security Fund. Money
allocated for municipal policemen's and firemen's pension and
relief funds to be distributed from the Municipal Pensions and
Protection Fund or the Municipal Pensions Security Fund shall be
first allocated to pay expenses of the oversight board and the
remainder in the fund distributed among the various municipal pension and relief funds as provided in section fourteen-d, article
three, chapter thirty-three of this code. The board is exempt from
the provisions of sections seven and eleven, article three, chapter
twelve of this code relating to compensation and expenses of
members, including travel expenses.

(e) Members of the oversight board shall serve the board
without compensation for their services: Provided, That no public
employee member may suffer any loss of salary or wages on account
of his or her service on the board. Each member of the board shall
be reimbursed, on approval of the board, for any necessary expenses
actually incurred by the member in carrying out his or her duties.
All reimbursement of expenses shall be paid out of the Municipal
Pensions Security Fund.

(f) The board may contract with other state boards or state
agencies to share offices, personnel and other administrative
functions as authorized under this article: Provided, That no
provision of this subsection may be construed to authorize the
board to contract with other state boards or state agencies to
otherwise perform the duties or exercise the responsibilities
imposed on the board by this code.

(g) The board shall propose rules for legislative approval in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-
nine-a of this code as necessary to implement the provisions of
this article, and may initially promulgate emergency rules pursuant
to the provisions of section fifteen, article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.

(h) The oversight board shall report annually to the
Legislature's Joint Committee on Government and Finance and the
Joint Committee on Pensions and Retirement concerning the status of
municipal policemen's and firemen's pension and relief funds and
shall present recommendations for strengthening and protecting the
funds and the benefit interests of the funds' members.

(i) The oversight board shall cooperate with the West Virginia
Investment Management Board and the Board of Treasury Investments
to educate members of the local pension boards of trustees on the
services offered by the two state investment boards. No later than
October 31, 2013, the board shall report to the Joint Committee on
Government and Finance and the Joint Committee on Pensions and
Retirement a detailed comparison of returns on long-term
investments of moneys held by or allocated to municipal pension and
relief funds managed by the West Virginia Investment Management
Board and those managed by others than the Investment Management
Board. The oversight board shall also report at that time on
short-term investment returns by local pension boards using the
West Virginia Board of Treasury Investments compared to short-term
investment returns by those local boards of trustees not using the
Board of Treasury Investments.

(j) The oversight board shall establish minimum requirements
for training to be completed by each member of the board of
trustees of a Municipal Policemen's or Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund. The requirements should include, but not be limited to,
training in ethics, fiduciary duty and investment responsibilities.